Fundamentally flawed

Well....what a weekend of disaster. Didn’t paint my teaching room....saw a rubbish movie (see other page soon to follow)....and fought with my boyfriend just because we were a bit grumpy! But, all the furniture got bought for the teaching room except for the laptop workstation that was out of stock – so at least something was accomplished. Teaching this weekend was good....my GCSE maths student is coming on leaps and bounds. It is lovely to take someone and completely turn them around, but the thing is I sometimes wonder if I’m a fraud. I’m a firm believer in self teaching (with assistance) to help cement ideas and concepts, and to give a certain amount of pride in what has been accomplished. If my students just knuckled down they would probably do just as well...does that make me a bad tutor? Please discuss my flaws in depth!

The bad egg student...joy to teach!

One of my students has come to me via parent desperation. They have been kicked out of school for disruptiveness and they (and I quote) “don’t DO homework”. The parental fraction thought that someone external, with no preconceptions about them, would help bring out the best.

I have to say that this child is a joy to teach. Once they realised that I was fair but firm, and boundaries had to be respected, it went swimmingly. It is a joy when they get something correct...you can really see the joy and pride in their face...and the more they get correct, and therefore praised, the harder they work.

Now....don’t get me wrong....there are some bad eggs out there....but I just think it is a shame when some who just needs a break and someone to have faith in them falls through the cracks. My predicted GCSE grade is a C minimum but probably a B...and if we continue the same way...an A. This is all from a student that was given up on and predicted to fail...the school infrastructure really fails us sometimes!